MDGs: Nigeria not listed among 15 African nations on track

Converting Africa’s impressive economic performance over the past decade into greater gains in the Millenium Development Goals has remained a primary challenge for Africa, according to the MDGs 2013 report.
The report, released by the African Union Commission Headquarters in Addis Ababa on Sunday, said that the 2012 MDGs rating had placed 15 African countries ahead of the 20 countries that made the greatest progress globally.
Nigeria was not listed among the 15 African countries.
Rather, the report, tagged: “The MDG Report 2013: Assessing Progress in Africa toward the Millennium Development Goals”, said that countries such as Benin Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Malawi and Rwanda had made impressive progress on a number of goals and targets.
It, however, said that “while Africa is the world’s second fastest growing region, its rate of poverty reduction is insufficient to reach the target of halving extreme poverty by 2015.”
The progress report, prepared by the AUC, UN Economic Commission for Africa, UN Development Programme and the African Development Bank Group, was launched as part of the year-long celebration of OAU-AU golden jubilee.
On food security, the report provided insights into how food security would impact on other MDGs, particularly health-related goals and how concerted efforts to improve agriculture, food distribution and nutrition would fast-track progress toward achieving other MDGs.
The report revealed that climate-related shocks, induced by extreme weather conditions, had destroyed livelihoods and worsened Africa’s food insecurity, resulting in a high incidence of underweight children, widespread hunger and poor dietary consumption patterns.
With fewer than 1,000 days to the 2015 MDGs target date, the report took stock of Africa’s overall performance in attaining the MDGs and identified the best performing countries via indicators, based on progress relative to each country’s initial conditions.
The report said that countries continued to learn from one another “as the countries that have sustained, equitable growth, with political stability and human development-oriented policies, are doing well in most of the goals.”
The report came up with its results after assessing four goals on track and another four off-track in the best performing African countries.
It said that MDG 2, aimed at achieving universal primary education; MDG 3, aimed at promoting gender equality and empowering women; MDG 6, aimed at combating HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria and other diseases; and MDG 8, aimed at forging global partnership for development, were on track in many African nations.
It, however, said that MDGs 1, aimed at eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; MDG 4, aimed at reducing child mortality; MDG 5, aimed at improving maternal health; and MDG 7, aimed at ensuring environmental sustainability were off track in most of the countries, even as some countries recorded appreciable progress.
The report particularly underscored the need for Africa to put structures in place to sustain its development well beyond the MDGs’ timeline.
“We hope that this report inspires and energises member states to accelerate efforts toward the MDGs. Further, we recommend that the post-2015 development agenda consider the initial conditions of nation-states and recognise countries’ efforts toward the goals, as opposed to just measuring how far they fall short,” it said.
The report stressed that Africa must commit “to inclusive, transformative development that would reduce poverty, create decent jobs, enhance access to social services, reduce inequality and promote resilience to climate-related hazards”.
The report, co-signed by the AUC Chairperson, Dr. Dlamini Zuma; ECA Executive Secretary, Carlos Lopes; AfDB President, Donald Kaberuka; and UNDP Administrator, Helen Clark, covered various issues and policy recommendations, revealing mixed pattern of successes, challenges, innovations and obstacles.
It said that most African countries had achieved universal primary school enrolment, with rates above 90 per cent, while the continent as a whole was expected to achieve certain aspects of MDG 2 such as school food programmes and access to pre-schools.
The report noted that women across Africa were becoming more empowered, with more girls attending primary and secondary schools and more women in positions of political power.
It, however, noted that cultural practices such as early marriage and low economic opportunities for women were slowing the progress.
It said that Africa had halted the spread of HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB, “thanks to strong political leadership, targeted interventions, the availability of AIDS medicine to the majority of people, and improved prevention and treatment efforts for TB and malaria”.
The report, however, noted that hunger and malnutrition among children remained a major challenge on the continent.
The report said: “In 2012, most of Africa was identified as having serious to alarming levels of hunger on the Global Hunger Index. Food insecurity has played a large role in slowing progress on the health MDGs, especially for children and mothers.
“Climate change, political instability and population growth are among the contributing factors. The continent’s population is increasing so rapidly that countries might not be able to produce all the food they need.”
The report also said: “Africa still has the greatest burden of child and maternal deaths, although significant progress has been made; under-five child deaths fell by 47 per cent across Africa between 1990 and 2011.
“To fast-track progress, this year’s MDGs report highlights the importance of integrated maternal and child health interventions, focusing on infant mortality and the need for holistic policies that address the underlying causes of maternal and child deaths.”
It said that Africa as a whole was doing well in terms of reducing carbon dioxide emissions and ozone-depleting substances, adding, however, that the continent’s forest cover was decreasing.
“African governments need to put in place afforestation strategies and programmes,” it said.
The report also advised African governments to expand the agricultural-productivity frontier through policies that would support the application of local knowledge, infrastructure investments and the development of financial markets.
It said: “Africa should also accelerate the creation of decent jobs, which would require bold policy changes that promote value added activities, economic diversification and investment in infrastructure.”
The report urged policy-makers to pursue inclusive growth strategies to promote broad participation of the active labour force, while ensuring that the returns from growth are invested in programmes that would enhance the productive capacities of broad segments of society, particularly women, young people and the vulnerable.
“To transform Africa’s agriculture for improved livelihoods and economic empowerment, African governments need to keep expanding agricultural productivity through better policies and heavy investment in improved seedlings, irrigated farming, use of fertilisers and increased access to finance,” the report said.